The Hardest Final Boss Fights of All Time

One of the greatest things about playing video games is the great sense of achievement when setting a new high score or beating a particularly difficult section. A good difficulty curve will leave the player feeling challenged without getting frustrated. The most common way of managing this difficulty progression is to divide a game into sections separated by increasingly difficult boss fights. Beating the final boss means you beat the game, an nothing is more satisfying than finally besting a final boss that have vexed you for weeks or maybe even months.

Some games take the concept of difficult final boss battles to extreme levels. These games relentlessly tests the gamer and are probably the number one reason for extreme profanity throughout the world. If you are looking for a game that will not be beat by anything short of an epic effort, check out this list of the most difficult final boss fights ever released on the public.

Gruntilda in Banjo Tooie

Gruntilda is the main nemesis in this excellent platformer for the N64. Banjo and Kazooie work their way through a beautiful world to finally face off against Gruntilda herself. The fight is very difficult, mostly because Gruntilda spends most of the fight on her broomstick where she is difficult to hit. She is constantly lobbing fireballs at Banjo and she has to be hit several times before the fight is finally won. For parts of the fight Kazooie takes flight and Gruntilda can be hit in the air. Unfortunately it is easy to miss the target which often leads to Banjo plummeting to his doom.

Yellow Devil from Megaman

The megaman series is notorious for its difficulty so it comes as no surprise that it has one of the hardest final bosses ever. The first Megaman game was very difficult to beat and the final showdown with the Yellow Devil can still give gamers gray hair. The Yellow Devil divides himself into blobs that he shoots across the screen where he reassembles himself from the same blobs. The blobs fly bas fast and furious and the only way to stand a chance is to play the level over and over until you can memorize the pattern and hope you'll be quick enough to get through the most intense sections.

M. Bison in Streetfighter II

Some boss fights are just not fair. M. Bison is a great example of a boss that is difficult because the game is unbalanced. The final boss in the Streetfighter universe is expectedly fast and powerful. One would think this would be challenging enough, but to make this boss fight horrible, M. Bison also has an unblockable special attack that he can bust out at any time. To make matters worse, this move drains a huge chunk of your energy.

Final boss in Mushihimesama Futari

Mushihimesama Futari is a Japanese vertical scrolling space shooter game. The game is a so called 'bullet hell' game where the difficulty consists of dodging enormous amounts of enemy fire. Mushihimesama Futari takes the concept to a ridiculous extreme and the final boss is all but impossible to beat. For most of the fight the entire screen will be covered in bullets with only the tiniest of safe spaces to navigate in for the player. This game is so hard it borders on not being fun anymore.

Jashin from Ninja Gaiden

Ninja Gaiden is another series known for its unforgiving difficulty. The game is a fast paced action-platformer that requires supreme control. The final battle against the demon Jashin is particularly difficult despite Jashin himself not moving at all during the fight. What he does do is throw out red flames all over the screen in random patterns. The player has to dodge this flames while attacking the face, tail and finally heart of the demon. By all accounts it is not possible to beat Jashin without taking at least one bar of damage.

Mike Tyson in Punch Out

Punch Out is not a terribly difficult game, the various fighters are challenging, but once you crack the pattern they become easy to deal with. Even the notorious Bald Bull is easy to beat once you learn to time his charges correctly. All this is out the window when it comes to the final boss, however. Mike Tyson is so utterly fast and insanely strong that it was probably easier to beat the real Mike Tyson in a fight than get past him in the game. He starts out by throwing uppercuts so fast you have virtually no time to react. One hit from Tyson and your minuscule fighter hits the deck instantly. Should you happen to be able to dodge his attack you get a second to unload your punches. Unfortunately, you can unload massive amounts of hooks to Tyson's head, and he takes virtually no damage. It took me months of playing the game daily before I could finally raise my arms in triumph, and to this day I have only beaten him once.